Why the Red Wings signed the all-reject free agent team

Over the past three weeks, the Detroit Red Wings have signed three players who have their fan base wondering why their favorite team is over the salary cap after having acquired two players who didn't necessarily want to be here at first--Jason Williams admittedly wanted to re-sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Todd Bertuzzi had hoped to sign with an Eastern Conference team--and a player who was so highly coveted that the team that acquired him wanted to do nothing more than buy him out.

In Jason Williams, Todd Bertuzzi, and Patrick Eaves, the Red Wings have spent $3.5 million on a trio of players who nobody else seemed to want for a trio of reasons: term, the "safety net" factor, and familiarity.

First and foremost, the Red Wings have undergone a tremendous amount of change thanks to the salary cap and players chasing bigger paydays elsewhere, losing Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson, Tomas Kopecky, and Ty Conklin to free agency and Jiri Hudler to the KHL. As such, the Wings face uncertainty on several fronts.

The biggest bottom line remains the salary cap, which may either remain steady, or, more likely, drop by a few million dollars, and as such, signing players to one-year deals helps maximize the Wings' financial flexibility after the 09-10 season, and that's essential...

Essential because the Wings' re-made roster features more than a few unknown quantities. After this season, the Wings will reassess themselves on nearly every front, starting with goal, where they're not quite sure whether Jimmy Howard is their "goalie of the future," or whether they'll have to wait for Thomas McCollum, Daniel Larsson, or Jordan Pearce to develop as Chris Osgood's successor.

On defense, the Wings still don't know whether or if Andreas Lilja will be able to play again as he continues to battle post-concussive symptoms (leaving a big hole on the third defensive pairing), and while Nicklas Lidstrom has given every indication that he wants to keep playing, the Wings won't know that for sure until they can say that they've signed him to an extension--and his asking price on that extension will have a huge effect on their 10-11 cap figure.

Up front, the Wings don't know whether Kirk Maltby or Tomas Holmstrom can rebound from difficult seasons, or whether they want to continue playing, period, after this upcoming season, and Detroit's loyalty to them (if either player wants to finish his career here, they will do just that) impacts the Wings going forward...

As does the fact that the Wings face several question marks in terms of their younger players stepping up. The Wings still don't know whether Valtteri Filppula's quite ready to fill a second-line center's role, or whether he'll need another season or two to fully mature.

They don't know whether Darren Helm or Ville Leino are ready for the rigors of 80-game seasons, or whether they're going to take more time to develop into full-time NHL'ers and productive players, possibly with a few stints in Grand Rapids to bolster their confidence...

And they won't know until training camp whether Justin Abdelkader's ready for the jump to the NHL or, in a more likely scenario, he'll be better served by playing another year in Grand Rapids.

As such, it never hurts to be over-ready and over-build. There's a reason that people buy cars with all-wheel drive and a little more power and weight than is necessary to go grocery shopping and commuting to work--because you never know when the going will get particularly tough, especially in Michigan--and the Red Wings not only face the above-mentioned uncertainties, but also know that injuries could strike at any time, and when they do, the Wings don't want to be caught without more-than-necessary depth.

That depth takes negative pressure off players who might otherwise buckle under, "There's no back-up but Kris Newbury and Jeremy Williams" pressure to perform, it creates positive pressure in competition for jobs and ice time, and the fact that the three free agents who help bridge the gap are on one-year deals allows the Wings to allow all their variables, in goal, on the blueline, and up front, to work themselves out with a tremendous amount of both financial and free agent flexibility should things not work out (or, hopefully, work out very well).

That's reasons one and two, mishmashed together, because they play off each other in surprisingly complicated ways. The third is no less complex, but it's a little easier to illustrate: the Wings' front office, Ken Holland included, admitted that they were in the market for Dan Cleary-style reclamation projects, and it's much easier to coax the best out of a player when you already know what he can and cannot do for you.

The reasons why Dan Cleary and Brad Stuart have succeeded in Detroit are the same reasons that Chris Osgood has rejuvenated his career here--the Wings don't ask players to extend themselves to fit unrealistic expectations. They ask you to fill a very specific role and go from there.

Jason Williams can provide 20 goals when motivated, play defensively responsible hockey, and provide the right-handed shot on the power play that Mikael Samuelsson took with him. He's struggled to fulfill his potential to become a 25-goal, 60-point-scorer who can occasionally throw a check and offer first-line consistency in Chicago, Atlanta, and Columbus, and he can still become that player here with the Wings, but the Red Wings signed him to be a third-line center who can put up 15-20 goals, take key faceoffs, kill penalties, and provide a cannon on the power play.

Besides, Mike Babcock knows Williams from his first days as a pro with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, and if Williams doesn't star this season, the Wings would probably bring him back for as second try as he's still got room to grow at a relatively (for Detroit, anwyay) young 28 years of age.

Patrick Eaves has also struggled to fulfill expectations that he put up Jason Williams-at-his-best offensive numbers (25 goals and 60 points) while offering a crash-and-bang, smaller power forward's game--like Dan Cleary at his best with Detroit--in Ottawa and Carolina, especially after suffering a concussion with the Senators. The Red Wings want Eaves to provide some grit and grind, forecheck hard, and hopefully put up 15-20 goals and 40-plus points, but if he doesn't, that's okay.

The Wings see the 25-year-old as a player still in the process of developing as a professional hockey player, and if he fills Tomas Kopecky's spot a little more ably than Kopecky did instead of showing Cleary-like promise, the Wings will retain his rights as a restricted free agent and continue to provide a positive developmental environment.

Todd Bertuzzi struggled after leaving Detroit because he chased the expectations that he can't fulfill, and he chased the styles of play that he simply cannot afford to indulge himself in anymore. Bertuzzi isn't a 30-goal, 70-point scorer anymore, and Anaheim's assumption as such didn't bear fruit.

He was injured in Calgary, so his point totals don't reflect his remaining potential over a full season, but one thing has become plainly clear regarding Bertuzzi's overall play--the man takes stupid penalties when he plays with reckless physical abandon. Utterly stupid penalties, the kind of careless, "I'm bigger than you and I can push you around, so I'm gonna do it and get away with it" penalties that make him look like a pre-lockout relic. He clutches, grabs, hits from behind, hacks, whacks, knees, you name it...

When his coaches embrace a style of play which requires players to push referees' discretion beyond its limit. It's not like the rest of the Ducks and Flames aren't prone to taking stupid penalties because they're taught to crash and bang for the hell of it, even if it hurts their overall cause. Bertuzzi's gambles with familiarity in Brian Burke and Randy Carlyle's brand of hockey in Anaheim and Mike Keenan's smash-and-clutch-and-grab game in Calgary didn't bear any fruit, and the Todd Bertuzzi who doesn't blunt his physical game simply isn't effective in the NHL anymore.

Bertuzzi was either recovering from back surgery or nursing a new sprain during his tenure in Detroit, so he never really showed the Wings the kind of hockey presence they expect from him--a third-liner who can put up 20 goals, provide some nastiness, and drop the gloves if necessary--but he did give Mike Babcock strong indications that his desire for Bertuzzi to play more physically responsible hockey, while taming his inner bully, could and did work.

Players who play "hard" and go to the "hard areas" get ice time under Mike Babcock. Bullies do two things: they sit in the penalty box, and then they sit at the end of the bench while Babcock glares at them for being stupid.

In summary, I'm not trying to defend the Wings' signings per se. I can very proudly state that I publicly made the case for the Wings going after Patrick Eaves right after the Bruins bought him out, but as a subjective fan, I have strong reservations about bringing back Jason Williams' spotty work ethic and the physical, emotional, and legal freight trains of baggage that Todd Bertuzzi has to carry, even though I believe that the fact that the Detroit press will let Bertuzzi deal with that stuff on his own will do wonders for that perma-scowl.

What I am doing is trying to explain why the Wings shopped at the dollar store. It's very apparent that financial and roster flexibility, over-building the roster to support and push younger players, and providing structured roles/realistic expectations for their free agent signings were the reasons that Jason Williams, Todd Bertuzzi, and Patrick Eaves are Red Wings.

If you think that these signings prove that Ken Holland's a madman, I'm simply saying this: there's a thorough, thought-out and reasoned method behind it, and that method includes canvassing the braintrust, coaching staff, and players before making one's bargain bin selections.